Tester Secures $5.3 Million For Head Start Programs
U.S. Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont., has announced that Head Start programs across Montana will receive a total of $5,302,892 in grant funding to help support in-person, comprehensive services this fall.
“Montana Head Start programs are critical to helping ensure our kids are all on even footing, and that everyone in our state has an equal opportunity to thrive,” Tester said. “These American Rescue Plan funds will go far to make sure Montana kids and their families will have the resources they need to succeed well into the future.”
The funding includes $253,658 for Fort Peck Assiniboine and Sioux Tribes in Poplar. Action for Eastern Montana (Glendive, Malta, Glasgow and Miles City) will receive $178,279.
This funding was made available by the American Rescue Plan and is distributed through the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Tester was the only member of the Montana delegation to vote in favor of the American Rescue Plan.
Montana’s Head Start programs offers preschool and infant care options for parents in need of daycare for their children, information and education resources for young families, and school readiness programing to ensure Montana kids are prepared for kindergarten.
As a former elementary school teacher and school board member, and as a senior member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, Tester has been a longtime champion for Head Start programs in Montana. He recently secured more than $3 million for the Ravalli Head Start, more than $4 million for the Head Start programs in Billings and Butte, and more than $2.8 million to support programs in Great Falls, Vaughn, Shelby and Cut Bank.
